最近，我们的一个制片人制作的短片引起了轩然大波。短片谈的是环境保护问题，而其中一位科学家认为全球变暖只是一个噱头。这种说法马上引起了其他很多科学家和公众的不满，很多人表示了对这个观点的反对，制片人也被批评报道偏颇，不够严谨。她的处境让我想到一句习惯用语。那就是: on the firing line。

Firing line, 是射击线，开火线的意思，那么on the firing line, 在火线上，引伸出来意思就是处于容易被攻击的位置上。

就像上面提到的例子：the producer of the show ended up on the firing line for presenting only one side of the argument. 制片人因为只介绍了对全球气候变暖的一种看法而受到批评。

在下面的例子里，一系列的问题食品带来了公众恐慌。我们来听一听：

例句-1：Last month, there was an terrible outbreak of people getting sick from contaminated spinach. Some Americans even died. Not long before, a similar incident happened with peanut butter. That's why the public became very angry at government officials. They'll probably remain on the firing line until citizens can be assured of the safety of our food.

这段话是说: 上个月，出现了一轮公众因食用受污染的菠菜而患病的事件。这些蔬菜甚至导致有些人死亡。不久前，市面上还出现过有问题的花生酱。这激起了公众对政府官员的愤怒情绪。在市民们重新对食品安全感到放心之前，这些政府官员可能会一直是大家批评的对象。

食品安全可不是小问题，政府确实应该对这种问题负责! 想起我租的公寓，租赁办公室一直在提高租金。在租户会议上，they were clearly on the firing line; they were grilled about why the renters had to pay more. 他们显然变成了租户的众矢之的，人们纷纷质问为什么要没完没了地上涨租金。

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一般在中国家庭里，财政大权都掌握在妻子手里。其实很多美国家庭也一样。下面例子里的这个人就要讲讲他妻子是怎么控制家庭预算，降低生活开支的。咱们一起来听一听:

例句-2：My wife controls the budget in the house. She says we have to cut down on spending. That means buying new clothing, going out to restaurants and taking a summer vacation are all on the firing line now. She's against any purchases until there's enough money to pay for them.

这段话是说：我妻子掌握家里的财政大权。她说我们得减少开支。这就意味着买衣服，下餐馆，和夏天出去渡假全都可能被取消。她觉得在有足够的钱以前，不应该再有任何不必要的消费。

大家注意，on the firing line可以用来形容人的情况，也可以用来形容事，形容事的时候意思就是可能被取消。比如说，because of the huge tax bill, my plan to purchase the New iPad is on the firing line. 因为得交好多税，买最新版 iPad 的计划很可能泡汤。